Taco plates are already well known in the prior art. The inventor herein has submitted samples of prior art, such as those shown in U.S. patents, and the submission is in a document accompanying this presentation for inventor's patent. As in the present invention, the prior art includes taco plates which have upstanding spaced-apart walls for supporting a taco shell, and those plates also have open areas without the upstanding walls, for supporting other foods. Also, those prior art taco holders or plates are arranged in various geometric configurations, including a circular-shaped plate, such as that of the present invention.
The present invention differs from the prior art in that it presents a circular type of taco plate with an annular rim extending around a base, and with a portion of the base being planar and with the remaining portion of the base having the upstanding walls supporting the taco shell, In that arrangement, the upstanding walls are interconnected with an integral part of an annular rim extending around the plate, and, as such, the plate is strength-reinforced by virtue of the continuity and location of the walls relative to the plate base and surrounding rim. That is, the plate is strengthened against bending and twisting, particularly under the weight of the foods supported by the plate.
Still further, the plate of the present invention is of a minimum amount of construction material, particularly plastic material, and it is therefore of one uniform thickness throughout its entire construction but it nevertheless retains its function of supporting foods and to do so in an optimum strength arrangement.
Further, the plate of this invention is arranged to support taco shells between spaced apart walls and to have the remainder of the plate on a planar arrangement for supporting other foods, and with the entire plate being arranged with a minimum of crevices or terminal elements and ridges which are otherwise susceptible to collecting and retaining foods and to therefore impede easy and complete cleaning and re-use of the plate. That is, the taco supporting walls of the prior art are generally not coterminous with the plate rim to extend to the upper level of the rim and therefore blend therewith and thereby avoid the presentation of crevices which are susceptible to the concealing and containment of foods to a detriment of the cleaning of the plate,
Still further, the taco plate of this invention accomplishes the aforementioned objectives and it does so with a plate which has an upper surface and a lower surface of a similar profile so that the plate can be readily compactly stacked one on top of the other, both for storage by the user as well as the retailer.
An overall and novel objective in the present invention is to make the plate lightweight, of minimum material, visually attractive, inexpensive, strength reinforced, and stackable. In the ultimate, the plate of this invention will adequately support food stuff without bending such as in contrast to prior plates which are flimsy and permit foodstuffs to fall off a plate which bends under the weight of the food. At the same time, the plate of this invention is readily cleanable, and thus reusable, by the consumer, and the plate has a very minimum of corners, and crevices so that food is not at all as likely to cling or be concealed on the plate during the cleaning process.